Mark A. Meily is a
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
, producer and a film educator who started his career in the Philippines. He has directed campaigns for Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, DocuSign, and FICO. His feature films have been presented at the film festivals of Deauville, Hawaii, Seattle, Goteborg, Marrakech, Montreal, Busan, Fukuoka and Brussels.
He was the chair of the Filmmaking program of the De La Salle-College St. Benilde in Manila. He became the Dean of the School of Design of iAcademy until 2019. In May 2019, his tenth feature, Maledicto, the first film produced by Fox International in the Philippines opened in cinemas. He now lives in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
Early life
Meily was born in Manila. He studied at the
University of the Philippines
The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...
College of Fine Arts, the
Mowelfund Film Institute
Mowelfund, or the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation, is an organization in the Philippines that provides for the welfare of workers in the film industry. As well as helping film workers in times of need, it provides support to various organizations ...
.
[Faculty profile, Asia Pacific Film Institute, June 2007.] and at the Ecole Supérieure d'Etudes Cinématographiques as French Government Scholar.
Personal life
Mark is the older brother of actor, TV host, vlogger and comedian
Bearwin Meily
Bearwin Meily (born April 4, 1976) is a Filipino comedian actor, TV host and a recent vlogger.
Early career
He started his career as an extra ''Palibhasa Lalake'' in ABS-CBN and eventually became regular.
Current career
But later on he moved ...
.
Television
In 2008, Meily directed the pilot week episode of Judy Ann Santos' ''
Habang May Buhay
''Habang May Buhay'' () is a 2010 Philippine medical drama television series created by Enrico Santos and directed by Wenn V. Deramas. The series features an ensemble cast consisting of ''Queen of Pinoy Soap Opera'' Judy Ann Santos, ''Primera K ...
''. He also wrote episodes and directed all six-seasons of the Asian adaptation of the hit French Sit-Com Camera Café. The series won Best Comedy Series at the Asian Television Awards in Singapore. He also worked on the hit drama series ''Jasmine'' for TV5.
For his television work, he won numerous awards such as the Catholic Mass Media Award, the Anvil Award, and the Philippine Advertising Creative Guild Prize. He received several awards from the
Philippine Advertising Congress.
Writing
Meily has written two screenplays, ''Bayad Luha'' and ''The Good Friday Archipelago'', which have won prizes from the
Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Foundation annual literary contest.
Critical success
Meily directed ''Crying Ladies'', his first feature film. The film won six awards at the
2003 Metro Manila Film Festival including Best Picture and Best Director. The film also received several nominations from different award-giving bodies in Philippines.
''Crying Ladies'' premiered in the United States and has received good reviews from the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, and
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
. It has also been shown at the Montreal World Film Festival, Brussels Festival of Independent Cinema, Hamburg Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Dallas Asian Film Festival, Calcutta Film Festival, and Palm Springs Film Festival.
The film received the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film and awarded for Meily the Best Director prize at the International Film Festival of Kerala, India. It is also the Philippine entry to the Best Foreign Language Film at the
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. He directed ''Pasyon U.S.A.'' (commercial title: ''La Visa Loca''), a film largely based on his Palanca–prize winning screenplay ''Good Friday Archipelago''.
In December 2008, his third feature, ''Baler'', topped the Metro Manila Film Festival garnering 11 awards and earning Meily his second Best Director trophy. ''Baler'', a historical epic drama set during the end of the war of Independence in the Philippines, was screened later on at the Far East Film Festival in Udine and was the opening film of the Indio Bravo Film Festival at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Meily also won another Best Director trophy at the PMPC Star Awards in 2009.
Meily founded Spark Films, a pioneer in branded viral entertainment and together with CALT, France introduced the hit French sit-com Camera Cafe in Asia. The Asian adaptation of the series eventually won Best Comedy Program at the 2008 Asian Television Awards in Singapore.
Awards
References
External links
Marilou Diaz-Abaya Film Institute and Arts Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meily, Mark
1967 births
Living people
Filipino film directors
Filipino television directors
Filipino television personalities
University of the Philippines alumni
People from Manila